ADAM: The Horrors Beneath
by Rapture Archives
Summary: We know the tales of the birth and death of Rapture,and even of the discovery of ADAM and all the amazing powers it brought. But what happened before the plasmids were perfect?Prequel-style to Bioshock
1. Chapter 1

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 1. Amazing Discoveries

Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum stared tentatively at the strange sea slug floating within the jar of ocean water, her brain processing the recent events leading up to her procurement of this specimen. The dockworker she had met that day had seemed quite eager to hand it over to her, and Bridgette had to admit that she herself was eager to study it. What a fascinating specimen, this sea slug was. No bigger than a grown man's hand, yet it's biology was the true source of her interest. This strange creature, whose bite had somehow healed the dockworker's crippled hand, could reveal untold secrets. But something tugged at the back of Dr. Tenenbaum's mind, an uneasy feeling about the city of Rapture, and where such secrets could lead it. No more than a week into her research of the sea slug, Bridgette made a discovery that both excited and astounded her. It's biology allowed it to secrete pure stem cells, which could not only heal damaged cells, but replace them altogether. She knew from the moment she had made this discovery that she would need funding for further research. But who? Surely a scientific discovery such as this would easily snag the funding of any of Rapture's respectable laboratories. She had no choice but to try her luck.

Nearly 3 weeks later, Dr. Tenenbaum had been turned down by every one of the labs in Rapture. How could they be so blind as to not want to further delve into such an amazing prospect as this? Who knows what could be achieved with this sea slug? With these stem cells, that Tenenbaum had dubbed "ADAM"? But it would not be long before one man would see the potential of this research. That man was Frank Fontaine, a businessman in Rapture who also happened to have his fingers in some less-than-savory soups,so to speak. He saw the financial and economical potential of the things such research could reap. With his more-than-adequate funding of "Fontaine Futuristics" behind her, Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum dove headfirst into her research of ADAM.

"This is Dr. Tenenbaum, recording testing of Subject #6. The subject has remained paralyzed from the waist down since the age of 24, following a very unfortunate...accident. We will be injecting this subject with Substance 19,code named "Rejuvenation."

Dr. Tenenbaum worked efficiently, making sure to sterilize and prepare everything as the subject sat rather nervously in the chair. Each and every test had been documented via an Accu-Vox as well as by a research camera within the test chamber, for Tenenbaum and her colleagues to go over at any later date. "Are you sure this won't hurt me?" Subject #6 asked? Bridgette responded very curtly, "We anticipate no truly negative side effects for this substance." The man nodded unsurely, and Tenenbaum went back to addressing the Accu-Vox. "I have prepped the syringe, and am now cleaning the injection site. Okay, please to be holding very still for this,sir. Count of three. One.."

The man was now sweating slightly,watching the doctor with wary eyes.

"Two..."

He tensed a bit as he prepared for the needle to break the skin."

"Three."

As the needle slid into the skin of the subject's arm, breaching the vein, he shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. It was unpleasant, to say the least, as the doctor injected the test substance into his bloodstream. "Subject has been injected with Substance 19, and now we are to be waiting for results." Dr. Tenenbaum spoke to the Accu-Vox as she withdrew the needle. Stepping back and disposing of the empty syringe into a biowaste container, Bridgette watched the subject carefully, looking for any signs of adverse reactions. After about a minute, the relatively young man began to sweat profusely, as his heart rate shot up.

"Approximately one minute after injection, subject is showing excessive perspiration and rapid increase of heart rate."

Clutching the arms of the chair, Subject #6 clenched his teeth, wailing in pain through them. It was apparent to Tenenbaum that things may be going very wrong.

"Subject #6 appears to be having a negative reaction to Substance 19."

"OH GOD! WHAT IS THIS?!AAGGGGHHHHH!!!!", the subject screamed at the doctor, his eyes going wide as his body was wrecked with pain and various other strange sensations. Finally, after about 2 minutes and as Dr. Tenenbaum was about to signal an alarm, the man began to relax in the chair. He breathed heavily, his heart trying desperately to gain the oxygen it needed to regain a regular pulse rate. As his vitals approached healthy levels again, Bridgette Tenenbaum watched with curiosity as the man's foot began to move. Noticing the movement himself, Subject #6 began to shake, his eyes full of disbelief. Without a word, he rose slowly and unsurely at first,before gaining his certainty in his footing.

"Subject appears to have regained full use of his legs. Substance 19 test appears to show initial success. We will be holding this one for observation...just to be sure."

Tears streaming down his eyes now at the apparent gift Dr. Tenenbaum had given him, he grasped her slender hand between both of his. "Thank you!Oh god..oh..oh god,thank you,doctor! This is nothing short of a miracle!" the man exclaimed to her, shaking her hand profusely. She spoke very calmly to him in response, telling him that it was science, not a miracle that had allowed this. Bridgette led the man out of the test chamber, having one of the research assistants guide him to an observation room. These tests were truly showing the signs of amazing things to Dr. Tenenbaum as she clicked her Accu-Vox off.


	2. Chapter 2

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 2. Some Things Are Not Meant To Be

In another branch of Fontaine Futuristics, Bridgette Tenenbaum's recently appointed colleague Dr. Suchong was conducting testing of a slightly different variety. He had the firm belief that ADAM could be used to manufacture concoctions that he named "plasmids", which would give the users abilities beyond that of normal men or women. His first spark of inspiration had struck him while passing through Rapture's musuem. In one of the glass tanks which housed aquatic life, Dr. Suchong spotted an electric eel, swimming rather dutifully through the water. What if mankind could harness such powers as that of the electric eel? To emit hundreds of volts of electricity from his body. Suchong returned quickly to his laboratory and began making notes and theories. It wasn't long before he had a tonic ready for testing on his subjects. Just as was procedure for all research within Rapture, Dr. Suchong recorded with his Accu-Vox for future review.

"Suchong beginning testing on Subject #3 for new electric plasmid. Last two not go so well, so Suchong hopes this one will be more fruitful."

This subject, a young woman no older than 19 or 20 named Maria, trembled slightly as she sat nervously in the testing chair. Watching one of Suchong's assistants prepare the syringe as the other cleaned her arm, the young woman was quite uneasy as her mind wandered off. She was set to be married to a wonderful boy, Danny, she had met in The Kashmir Restaurant, and had only signed up for this research testing as a way to gain a little extra money. She wanted kids one day with her fiance, two boys that they could raise down here in the freedom of Rapture. They told her when she signed up that this would be harmless testing,and that she would be generously compensated. What bride-to-be wouldn't want extra cash with her fiance to prepare for a life with children? Snapping back to reality as she heard Dr. Suchong shut the door between the testing chamber and the viewing room, she looked at one of the assistants he picked up the syringe full of a purple, luminous substance. She took a deep breath as she waited to be injected.

"Now we will be injecting Subject #3 with new plasmid, and we have to monitor for positive or negative results. That Fontaine gonna be one mad jerk if we don't come up with something real good with his funding."

The needle slid into the young woman's arm with steady, solid precision,drawing a wince from her as it pierced. The assistant's manner was quiet and efficient, lacking any form of bedside manner as he injected her. Drawing in a breath as the needle was removed, she let it out as this stern man set the syringe onto the tray with a light clank. Within moments she began to pant, before the feeling of electric fire washing through her body forced her to cry out.

"Subject starting to exhibit reaction to plasmid, let's hope for something good this time." Suchong spoke without emotion into his Accu-Vox.

The woman attempted to bolt upright in the chair, only to realize that as her mind had been wandering, they had strapped her arms and legs down. This only caused her more panic, her eyes darting back and forth.

"Heart rate going up, subject breathing heavily.", the assistant announced with a slight tremble in his voice.

As crackles of electricity streaked over her flesh, one of the straps holding her left arm sizzled and snapped, freeing that arm to spasm violently. No longer grounded by her grip on the chair, the immense voltage coursing through the subject's left arm shot out, catching one of the unfortunate assistants in a burst of electricity. The poor man spasmed with a violent cry before collapsing in a smoking pile.

"#3 is showing better results than first two subjects, maybe this one survive."

The subject was screaming horribly at this point, her mind racing and her body racked with pain as the electricity surged from within her own flesh. With Suchong watching, she began to resemble a living Tesla coil. Brilliant bolts of electricity arced from her body, being drawn to the metals in the room as she continued to cry out. Over the course of the next minute or so, with Dr. Suchong merely observing, the test room became filled with electricity. Then, as suddenly as it had began, the powerful surges stopped. As clouds of smoke cleared within the test chamber, the doctor peered in to see the black remains of Subject #3's corpse.

"sigh...it appears that while electric plasmid almost worked this time, the subject completely burn herself out. But...Suchong feels that we ARE getting closer..."

Scribbling efficiently onto his notepad, Suchong ordered a cleanup in the test chamber before leaving the observation room. Frank Fontaine would be calling soon for a progress update, and the doctor only hoped this breakthrough would make him happy.


	3. Chapter 3

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 3. Grave Beginnings

As she sat in her study, quietly rustling through a few notes, Bridgette couldn't help but think back on days past. Some time after her research into the sea slug, yet before they had begun plasmid testing, Dr. Tenenbaum worked very hard trying to find a way to produce high yields of ADAM. Before long, she started to toy with the idea of implanting the sea slug into a host, hoping it would essentially leech off the subject's food supply, converting it to ADAM. Bridgette Tenenbaum remembered the first test subject they had tried, and how upon trying to implant the sea slug into his stomach, it literally ate it's way into the man's heart in a matter of minutes. She and her assistant had no choice but to watch with some sense of disgust and awe as the man stumbled about, blood pouring from his mouth. The torrent of crimson had choked out his cries and screams of agony into mere gurgles, before he had finally collapsed onto the floor on the testing room.

Since then, they had had slightly more success with a few female subjects, but each result was eventually the same; death of the host, along with the slug inside. What was it that made this simple yet complex creature able to heal injuries, yet it could not be sustained within a host? Could it be their genetics? Their age? Perhaps that was it..perhaps their bodies were merely too old to accept the slugs without causing death in some way. But to test on little ones? Perhaps even that was too far, be it in the great name of scientific discovery or not. But with pressure from her benefactor, Frank Fontaine, she soon saw no choice but to test this theory. Bridgette could remember muttering to her Accu-Vox one day,shortly after Fontaine had told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted results. "If their is God,I hope he can forgive me for what I am doing to better mankind..."

Even with children, the testing process was not easy, considering the case of Subject #15. A young boy, no more than six or seven, #15 had been both eager and nervous. The people in their strange white coats had told him that they wanted to play, and his mother had encouraged it, "for the good of Rapture,sweety" she had said. Now, as the boy lay there on the operating table, sedated and waiting to be implanted with the slug, Dr. Tenenbaum sighed at what the boy's mother had told him. Was it really for the good of the city? It was best at the time not to think of these things, she told herself, drawing the scalpel across the flesh of his adomen. A clean red line appeared in the path that the scalpel made as the doctor finished opening the small boy. She shrugged off her thoughts to focus on her work, speaking very matter-of-factly into her Accu-Vox.

"I have made incision into Subject #15's stomach, and will now be implanting the slug. I can only hope this host will stay alive."

As she pinned back the muscle, flesh, and soft organ tissues of the boy's midsection, her assistant handed her the sea slug. Carely, she placed in into a fair-sized flap she had created just beneath the innermost layers of the subject's stomach. Here, Bridgette hoped, it would seat itself in a semi-parasitic fashion. If it worked, the possibility was that simply feeding the subject would allow the slug to convert it into huge amounts of ADAM. From there, it would only be a matter of inducing regurgitation. That was a big "what if" riding on the fact of getting a host body to accept the slug.

"Sea slug has been inserting into lining of subject's stomach. Now to sew this one back up."

The doctor finished inserting the slug into the lining of Subject #15's stomach, and began the process of stitching him back up. Despite it's secretion of the precious stem cells, all the previous subjects had not shown any increase in healing speed of their incisions. This puzzled Dr. Tenenbaum, and she had noted it several times in her past notes, but nothing beyond that. Her focus was to be making a viable host for the sea slug, so that Fontaine could have his living ADAM factories and drive the market even higher. Bridgette removed her gloves to wash her hands, as her assistant gently wheeled the boy out of the operating room and down the hall to a recovery room. He would be observed, like all the others, just in case. But as Dr. Tenenbaum would soon find out, this boy would survive, although not the way she had hoped...


	4. Chapter 4

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 4. A Turn For The Worst

Within a day, the boy awoke, wincing almost instantly at the tenderness of his abdomen. He struggled for a moment to sit up, fighting through the pain, and quickly realized he was extremely hungry. Looking around, he noticed a large brass button near his bedside, with a silhouette of a nurse engraved above it. Studying the picture for a moment, the young boy understood what to do as his small index finger depressed the button for a few moments. Within a minute, a nurse entered the room, her warm smile glowing from a perfectly curved face, framed by her short blonde hair. She spoke softly and kindly to the young boy, as her training in bedside manner had always taught her. "I'm your nurse, Jolene, and I can get you anything you need." she said, the same warm smile still in her face. Subject #15 smiled and decided immediately that he liked this grownup, and she seemed very nice. Hesitating, he asked her, "Could I please have something to eat? I'm very hungry." Without a second thought, the young nurse nodded kindly and began to offer him his choice of anything he wanted, naming off several examples which made the boy's eyes grow with hunger and delight. After #15 had decided what he wanted to eat, the nurse promptly headed out of the room, smiling and telling him she would be back shortly.

The young boy rubbed his stomach gently, so as not to irritate his already tender stitches. He lifted his hospital gown to look at them, very lightly touching them with his fingertips for a minute or so. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Jolene re-entered the room with a tray of meatloaf for him. She giggled and immediately apologized for startling him. Swinging the bedside table over to him on it's steel pivoting arm, the kind nurse set the tray down gently and removed the top. The scents of freshly made meatloaf and potatoes seemed to instantly strike the boy's nose and his eyes lit up, his mouth salivating. Jolene smiled, pleased that she had made this young patientd so happy, and without a word left him in peace to eat.

Over the course of the next few days, the boy gained more mobility as he recovered. Dr. Tenenbaum noted that he was the first to show signs of rapid tissue regeneration, a very interesting turn of events. This, of course, was not the focus of the experiment,merely a pleasant surprise to the young doctor. Within a week, Subject #15's incisions had fully healed, and all his vitals seemed to be stable. Bridgette was thankful for this, thinking to herself that perhaps this one would survive, and that they had finally gotten the results they were hoping for. But even in all her research and brilliance, Bridgette Tenenbaum could not have known how wrong this experiment would turn over the days that were to come.

Within a few days of release from his room, the young boy dubbed Subject #15 was once again in a bright, sterile room. He turned as he heard the door behind him open, expecting to see the doctor again. Imagine his surprise when it was Jolene, the very kind nurse from his recovery room, that stepped in. She smiled sweetly at him, waving with her free hand, as the other held a clipboard. She leaned over beside his chair, and spoke very softly to the boy. "The doctor sent me in here to do a few standard tests on you. I hope that's okay." Had it been any other nurse or assistant, this young boy would have been apprehensive. But Jolene had been so kind to him, he could only smile and nod at her. She returned his smile with one of her own, and reached over to the table for the blood pressure cuff. As she strapped it around his left forearm, she explained it's purpose in a way she hoped he would understand. Subject #15 got the basic idea as she told him what it was for, and could not help but feel at ease around this kind woman. Jolene pumped the bulb of the blood pressure cuff several times, looking at the clock on the wall to time his pulse. The boy began to look very uneasy as she pumped, his smile turning to a concerned frown.


	5. Chapter 5

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 5. Jolene's Fate

"My arm feels all tingly, Miss Jolene", the boy said in a slightly frightened tone. She smiled reassuringly, telling him that his left arm was feeling numb that way because of the pressure in the blood pressure cuff. Shaking his head, the boy told her very solemnly, "It's not...it's not in my left arm." Glancing at the boy's other arm, Jolene nearly cried out at what she saw. The flesh of Subject #15's right arm seemed to have swollen considerably, but that was not quite the only word to describe it. His very flesh seemed to writhe and crawl, as if something was shifting beneath the layers of inflamed tissue. Jolene ran to the door, pushing the button that activated the PA system inside the observation room and speaking frantically into the microphone. "His arm, doctor..it looks very swollen. It's moving like something is alive under the skin. I really think you should get in here." As the young nurse released the button, she looked at the window to the observation room, seeing that the doctor made no attempt at responding to this information. Bewildered, she pressed the button again, asking why they were not coming to help the boy. Dr. Tenenbaum sighed and looked down very quietly, her heart and her head in a struggle over what to do. She knew that the young nurse should be let out, that the boy needed help. But her mind, ever the source of brilliance and a thirst for knowledge, told her to let these events unfold. Monitor them, see what happened next. Progress, wasn't that what all this research was for? Bridgette could not bring herself to look at the young nurse as he finally pressed the button on her side of the PA, speaking into the microphone. "I'm..very sorry, Jolene..." These words brought a look of terror across the nurse's face, just as a sickingly wet ripping sound came from behind her.

The boy's arm was now massively swollen, so much so that his flesh could not take the punishment. It ripped with a disgusting sound, blood spraying out as the tissue seemed to explode out like a popped balloon. Subject #15 cried out, looking with fear and agony at Jolene. His eyes filled with tears, and he managed the words, "Please..Miss Jolene! I'm scared!" before collapsed in a fit of screaming. His arm, the flesh covering it now gone, seemed to expand even more, the tendrils of muscle each seeming more like a tentacle. These began to take on a sort of life of their own, their color fading to a dark red, almost black. The boy's right arm now seemed almost as big as his torso, squishing and pulsing as it moved of it's own accord. Her eyes wide with wonder and sheer horror, Jolene stepped into the far corner of the room. Her mouth opening to scream, but nothing would come out between her lips, their red lipstick brilliant in the sterile white light of the room. She slid down to the floor just in time to watch a tendril of the boy's swollen tissue whip across the room. This time, her voice worked as she let out a very sharp shrieking sound. Unfortunately for the young nurse, her noise was silenced by a sudden squeezing pressure around her throat. Another tentacle of the boy's mutated arm had found her neck, choking off the sounds of her shrieking in an instant. Dr. Tenenbaum tried to look away as these events unfolded, but her scientific mind and slightly morbid sense of curiosity would not let her. Bridgette watched as the young nurse's throat was clenched tight, causing a small snap as her neck bones were crushed by the pressure. What followed would haunt Dr. Bridgette Tenenbaum to the end of her days, though she would never speak of it to anyone again.

As Jolene's lifeless body hung limp, the tendril of dark red flesh began to drag her across the floor. Her features, however beautiful even in death, would not last much longer as more strands of the boy's former right arm began to envelop her. Dr. Tenenbaum continued to watch as the mutation simply devoured the nurse, much like many snakes devour their prey whole. The bulge from the nurse's corpse inside the flesh seemed to move up the length of Subject #15's horribly deformed appendage. The boy's eyes seemed to be filled with a detached look of horror, and the doctor wondered if he was even still able to comprehend what was happening. As the mass of Jolene's consumed body moved, the mutation of the child's body began to spread, his shoulder and most of his torso taking on the same swollen appearance his arm had. Before long, the flesh began to stretch and crawl as the mutation's "meal" was transferred slowly to the stomach of it's host. This tissue soon gave way as well under the tremendous swelling, tearing the skin away and revealing the same dark red mass of flesh beneath.


	6. Chapter 6

**"ADAM: The Horrors Beneath"**

Chapter 6. Not What We Expected

As Subject #15's body became more swollen and mutated, the body of the nurse who had been so kind to him seemed to finally reach where his stomach should have been. But even this was hard to tell for Dr. Tenenbaum, as his body was distorted by the horrifying changes she was witnessing. Shortly after, the mass of flesh around the child's stomach began to writhe and squirm rapidly, as though something was churning away inside it. All her assistants gone before the terrifying scene had reached this point, Bridgette was alone in the observation room, the sole witness to what occurred next. The boy's mouth opened, his throat seemed to undulate as it emitted a deep groaning noise, followed by loud gurgling. Without warning, the subject began violently vomitting, though to Dr. Tenenbaum's surprise, it was not the remains of the young nurse. Instead, it was the semi-transparent red mass of stem cells that had been dubbed ADAM, and not just a modest amount. As the boy continued to heave, it seemed almost as though the substance kept coming from some endless well, it's thick crimson mass pouring from his gaping mouth. The chances of any sort of jaw structure still left inside the boy's head seemed miniscule, his mouth seemed to gape so wide that the doctor though it might simply tear apart. With one last, sickening gurgle, the boy released a final stream of ADAM from his throat before collapsing to a heap on the floor. Bridgette stood quietly for a few minutes, watching to see if the events were finally over. The boy's horribly deformed body began to shrivel up where it lay, becoming nothing more than a dehydrated mass of tissue within 10 minutes.

Later on in her office, Dr. Tenenbaum looked over the notes she had finally managed to scribble out from the results of this experiment. The ADAM, of course, had been cleaned up and stored away for use. The remains of the subject's body were incinerated to be sure that nothing more could happen, and his mother was informed of only a portion of the story. She was told that there had been "complications" with the testing. That the boy had simply passed on as a result, and that she had both their monetary compensation as well as their condolences. His mother nodded, sad at the loss of her son, but even in those early days her mind made up that it was for the good of the city. This disturbed something deep inside Bridgette, but she shrugged it off for the time being. After all, there were always sacrifices to be made in the name of scientific advancement. Of course her mind, ever the bundle of scientific thought processes that it was, would try to validate what had happened, to condone her actions. But her heart and her conscience would not be so forgiving of the events that had unfolded, the choices she had made. That day in her office, shortly after the other researchers and assistants had gone home for the day, Bridgette Tenenbaum buried her face in her hands and sobbed for nearly half an hour.

Almost two days after the incident with Subject #15, the daily routine of research and testing at Fontaine Futuristics had practically returned to normal. Dr. Tenenbaum had finished her report of the occurrance, and sent it off to Frank Fontaine as was the standard procedure for all research. Even with it's horrible outcome, the doctor knew that this experiment had been something of a breakthrough. The slug had indeed turned the contents of the subject's stomach into ADAM, though the manner it had done this was less than acceptable. Regardless, Bridgette knew this was a step in the right direction. As the saying goes, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Even so, the doctor was beginning to see that, through her research, the cost of progress was perhaps becoming too high for the outcome. Yet there would always be men like Fontaine, whose conquest for glory and power would always justify the means to the end they desired, no matter how many lives were lost in the process.


End file.
